College Football’s Top 8 Teams

In a perfect world, college football would utilize the mathematical advantages provided by the Bowl Championship Series’ (BCS) multiple polls to find out the nation’s 8 best teams and have them participate in a playoff. These games would be hosted at the 5 BCS bowl sites plus two other designated sites.

Now, I don’t consider myself an expert in college football, but I do consider Matt Carroll to be one [especially on the recruiting trail]. Both of us feel strongly that preseason polls are misguide the public and help predetermine BCS bids at the end of the season. So, every two weeks, Matt will be ranking the top 8 teams and sharing his thoughts on why these teams are the best of the best.

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1) Ohio State: A no-brainer here. Big and impressive wins, on the road, against Texas and Iowa. The best offense in the nation with Heisman fave Troy Smith running the show, a solid WR in Gonzalez, a playmaker in Ginn, and two great RB's in Pittman and the #1 national recruit Chris Wells. The defense has held their end of the bargain thus far. All new starters, but not new players. Most of these guys have been waiting in the wings for a year or two now.

2) Michigan: Huge road shellacking against the highly touted Fighting Irish. One of, if not the best front 7 in all of college football. Complemented by an offense led by TB Mike Hart, who makes it easy for third year starter Henne to go deep to breakout WR Manningham. Breaston is a playmaker that can change a game with one return or screen.

3) Auburn: A great win against LSU. The defense has all of the talent, and are unbeatable when on top of their game. Kenny Irons is phenomenal. Games are won on the front lines, and Auburn has a fantastic OL and DL. Their schedule is weak in SEC standards, and their tough games are at home. I think their biggest test will be the last at Alabama. Courtney Taylor is a great talent, but the passing game has not proven itself. If Auburn finds itself down late, they could be in trouble.

4) Florida: Great win at Tennessee. A lot of talk about Tebow, who is very talented, but only continues the lack of appreciation that people have for Leak. The defense is great. Their only problem is their schedule. If they beat LSU, at Auburn, and GA, back-to-back-to-back, they automatically go up to #2. Toughest schedule in the country.

5) USC: Pretty good win against Nebraska. Lots of talent on this team as always. Jarrett out will not make them miss a beat, especially at this point in their schedule. Booty is a first-year starter, but he's been in the program for a while now. He's no rookie, it has shown, and he will continue to show that throughout the year. They will easily be undefeated going into their game on Veteran's Day.

6) Louisville: Hard to say who is better between WVU and Louisville. Lucky for the fans, we can see them decide that on the field. What they have down without Bush, and now without Brohm, has been superb. Petrino is my Coach of the Year right now. A great win against Miami, even though Miami is looking worse by the day. Brohm should be back for the WVU game and both should be undefeated.

7) LSU: A great team. Phenomenal D. JaMarcus Russell is a very good QB that can carry the team on his shoulders. They have a great matchup in The Swamp this weekend. Russell outperformed Leak last year and I think he can do it again. If they beat Florida, which I believe they will, they should go into the top 5. Their one loss was a good one.

8) WVU: This team has been untested which makes it hard to gauge how good they really are. A very impressive offense. Steve Slaton is one of the top 3 RB's in the entire nation. Rich Rodriguez is a genius with the spread offense that he employs and he has a great young general in Pat White to execute it. The defense leaves something to be desired. Gave up a lot of bad plays against Maryland. Did not play well against East Carolina last week, Slaton included.

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Key Games in the Next 2 Weeks
Oct. 7:
LSU @ Florida
Texas v. Oklahoma
Tennessee @ Georgia
Oregon @ California

Oct. 14:
Florida @ Auburn
California @ Washington St.
Michigan @ Penn St.